


Law Is Theater

by MeltyRum



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening, Street Fighter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23218450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltyRum/pseuds/MeltyRum
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Boku no Hero Academia x Persona





	Law Is Theater

Surprisingly, this was her first time at the Delta Kappa Epsilon house, having gotten used to having various men—like Cody himself—come and collect her from whatever cheaper, more traditional dormitory situation she might currently be inhabiting. It was not difficult to see that—while the building was certainly old and a bit less well-kept than the dens of the wealthy were—it was the sort of place that was designed to replicate the comforts of home for many of the spoiled boys that lived there, with cooking and cleaning services comfortably out of their hands and onto the plates of “the help”, whom only made themselves visible when and where absolutely necessary, it seemed.

The rooms themselves were nothing special, from what she saw. Large, but… the whole building was probably repurposed from something else. Dorothea felt a mild flame of satisfaction in her belly at that, not at all wanting to imagine how pampered these boys would be if their fraternity house had been built from the ground up to provide every amenity imaginable; it’s not like their parents would be unable to afford such a luxury, after all. She felt grateful that Gotham University had deigned not to commission the construction of newer facilities. For now, at least.

The sororities, of course, could boast newer, more modern-looking buildings due to the younger nature of their organizations’ histories, but she had spent even _less_ time there, so now wasn’t the time to make a detailed comparison. Perhaps if she ever snagged a girlfriend from one of those handsome houses…

For now, though, Dorothea wandered the house in search of Cody’s room, feeling a bit out of place in more ways than one and surprised to see that—other than a boy studying in the entrance common room—everyone was still either outside the house or cooped up in their rooms. Well, the rich could certainly afford to have a measure of privacy or two.

She guessed that Mr. Travers had not yet made his return when she found his door closed and locked. It was doubtful that he was just hiding from her, after all.

“Looking for someone?” asked a familiar voice from across the hall.

She turned with a smile, surprised to see Harvey leaning in the doorway opposite Cody’s. The glow of a monitor and the sight of an opened textbook on his desk told her that he had just been in the middle of his studies. “I heard Cody would be done with classes for the day, so I thought I would try to catch him. Is that alright?”

“Oh, of course—you’re always welcome,” said Harvey. “Normally there’s a reasonable chance he’d be here right now, but our scholarship advisor convinced him to stop screwing around so much,” he added with a light chuckle, checking his watch.

“You don’t mind if I wait here for him?”

“Sure. Give him twenty minutes or so. You can even wait in my room, if you like.” He gestured toward the empty couch by his desk before he slipped past it to resume his seat at the computer. “No pressure, of course, although I wouldn’t mind a little company—you and Cody seemed pretty inseparable, at least once the dancing started.”

She gave him a smile as she joined him in the room and invited herself to his couch. “You’re one to talk, making little Olivia fall in love with you like that. She’s a gentle creature, you know; you have to be careful when applying your flirtatious rich-boy charm.”

Harvey laughed, shutting his textbook and giving her a knowing smile, as though he’d been expecting a jab like this. “Believe it or not, my upbringing was a little different from some of these other guys—like Cody’s, you know. And Olivia is the only girlfriend I’ve had in college, to tell you the truth, so I’m trying my best. But you’re right in that I might have learned something about being ‘flirtatious’ from the other guys.”

She raised her eyebrows, giving him a curious look, narrowing in on his claims of a humble upbringing. “No? I was under the impression that your parents worked with these families pretty often. And you didn’t seem like a stranger to the ball.”

“Neither did you, for that matter,” observed Harvey, with a guileless smile. “But you’re right: my parents are pretty familiar with a lot of the families who have attended Gotham University—in particular those at Del Kappa. So I’ll admit to having grown up with some of the same privileges, sure.”

Dorothea couldn’t suppress a smile at the diplomatic tone of his voice. “And working for those families must pay quite well, I would imagine.”

“Right.”

“And you’ll be following in their footsteps?”

Harvey paused for a moment, crossing one leg up on the other as he gave his chin a quick scratch. “That I don’t know. I’m probably not aiming for a private practice, to be honest. I know it sounds corny, but I think I’m better-built for public service.”

Dorothea’s eyebrows rose up with some surprise. “Oh? Tell me about that: what does the public road look like, exactly?” Considering the building they were in—and considering the kind of _university_ they were at—she would have expected any prospective lawyer here to be motivated by the desire to protect and partake of old money and corporate interests.

He gave her a smile, though, apparently pleased at her interest. “At first, it doesn’t look so different from private law: I’ll get my history degree, go to law school for a few years, hopefully pick up some criminal defense cases as an assistant, and then…” he trailed off, one hand circling in the air vaguely, as though the future became much more nebulous at this point.

“Then?” she prompted.

“Then maybe an assistant DA, and from there, well…” He shrugged, voice shrinking into vague silence again, as though he feared saying it aloud might turn it into an impossible dream.

Dorothea felt confident she could extrapolate, though. “You want to be a district attorney?” she asked, letting her eyes light with interest. Perhaps he really wasn’t joking about public service.

He let out a self-deprecating laugh, a surprisingly cute and sheepish little smile spreading over his handsome features as he raised his gaze to meet hers. “It might take a while, but… yeah, I would like to. But I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself.”

She gave that some thought, realizing a man as handsome as Harvey would probably do just as well in public office as he would wearing a smarmy smile and defending the investments of those for whom investing did not even present a risk, working for the rich so they could grow even richer. “Well… color me surprised, Harvey. I didn’t think you would be the type.”

He chuckled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She smiled brightly—a careful and practiced expression of joy with which she could deliver her harshest judgments. “People in positions like those occupied by you and your friends often don’t concern themselves about the public, is all—except to when it comes to hiding it from the eyes of wealthy society types.”

He nodded shallowly, looking off to one side as he gave some thought to those words, clearly trying to decide if tackling this level of cynicism was worth his time. His thoughtful eyes eventually returned to hers, though, where he regarded her for a minute, his clear-eyed acceptance of her presence actually making Dorothea feel a little bit… guilty.

Eventually, though, Harvey took a deep breath. “Look, Dorothea… if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak frankly. First of all, I think you’re right: wealthy people—except for the legitimately cruel ones—on some level, want to pretend that everyone enjoys a life as ‘safe’ as theirs. But other than the swelling contents of their parents’ bank accounts, a lot of the Delta Kappa guys—and other Gotham U students—are just normal guys, when you get down to it.

“Even guys like Bruce and Cody. It turns out that there are plenty of dangers that being rich won’t protect you from—like losing one’s parents. I hope this won’t offend you, but I’ve already heard about your parental situation from Cody, so… I’m sure you already know this, but Bruce shares a part of that history with you. There are things that money alone can’t insulate you from, even if Bruce’s life came with a safety harness that yours may not have. I know that doesn’t make everything equal, but our experiences as human beings aren’t that different.”

He allowed himself a short pause, and Dorothea could help recalling Linhardt, when he had tried to convince her of something similar. They were the same, but not the same, and born into places of comfort or discomfort that were not of their own choosing. That was all _true_ , but why—whenever she heard it—did it always end up sounding to her like an excuse? Was _she_ the problem, as though her experiences had taken from her the ability to take such encouraging words at face value? She could point to any number of events in recent memory to show that the “humanity” part of the human experience was not necessarily so universal.

Yet, she had to admit… when Harvey put it to her so earnestly, she could _almost_ believe it.

She had just begun trying to work up a retort when Harvey interrupted her by clearing his throat and giving her a sheepish smile: “I know that’s all a bit cheesy, so I apologize if it doesn’t make for a very good case.”

To her own surprise, Dorothea smiled back. “Yes… it is quite a lot of pretty words, Harvey. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard that we should celebrate our similarities, regardless of circumstances of birth, class, economics, et cetera.” She delicately and thoughtfully rubbed one knuckle of her forefinger against her chin. “But you know what? I kind of like it; the stage has gotten me fairly accustomed to pretty words. Some of those words are more believable than others, of course.”

“And you believe mine?” he prompted kindly, in a tone of voice that helped her trust that he would truly value her validation.

“I do; I believe you, Harvey Dent. I should never have doubted a future district attorney’s ability to present a case.” She gave him another smile, feeling that this one was genuine. He may not be quite as much fun as Cody, but she could see why Olivia had fallen for him so soundly.

He laughed again. “Well, in a very real way, law is theater, too. We might have more in common than you think.”

Before she could answer, she could hear a few masculine voices go up in greeting of Cody.

“Ah. Here comes your man,” said Harvey. “It was good chatting with you, Dorothea.”

“You, too, Mister Dent,” she replied, rising to her feet. “I’m sure we’ll do it again.” She gave him a quick wink before she turned to leave the room, rather pleased with their conversation.

Certainly, it would probably not be any time soon that her mind changed—that her resentment for this _de facto_ ruling class would shrink away. But at least she could be fairly confident about the characters of a sample of the men she had met: Cody, Linhardt, Harvey… if she were a more naive girl, perhaps she would have been irreparably swept off of her feet, too, and her fascination with the rich and wealthy would no longer feel so toxic, being built on careful compromise and adaptation, like the study of a poison.

A poison… maybe that’s what it was. But at the rate things were going, perhaps there was still time for her to receive an antidote.


End file.
